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CBS Broadcasting, Inc. v. Echostar Communication Corp.

Nationwide preliminary injunction in a copyright infringement suit vacated because district court abused its discretion in finding that there was a substantial likelihood that plaintiffs could establish that defendant was in violation of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act and plaintiffs' copyrights.

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The full case caption appears at the end of this opinion.

This is an interlocutory appeal from the entry of a preliminary injunction in a copyright infringement suit that was initiated by four major television network stations and associations representing hundreds of local network affiliates against EchoStar Satellite Company and its subsidiaries. The propriety of the preliminary injunction depends in large part upon the Satellite Home Viewer Act (“SHVA”), 17 U.S.C. � 119, and its most recent amendments in the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 (“Improvement Act” or “the Act”), Pub. L. No. 106-133, � 1001, et seq., 113 Stat. 1537, 515 (West Supp. 2001). SHVA, as amended by the Improvement Act, creates a compulsory, statutory license for satellite carriers to transmit copyrighted network programming for private home viewing to “persons resid[ing] in unserved households.” 17 U.S.C. � 119 (1996 & West Supp. 2001). The district court found, inter alia, that there was a substantial likelihood that the Networks could establish that EchoStar provides distant network signals to “served” residences thereby falling outside of the Act and violating the Networks’ copyrights. Because we conclude that this finding was an abuse of discretion, we vacate the preliminary injunction and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

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